It was a revelation the first time I heard night referred to as "she." It made intuitive sense. Of course, I thought. Of course night is female. Of course night is personified as a goddess. How have I not noticed that before?
Accordingly, the Sanctuary's liturgy includes hails and prayers to Nótt, Nordic goddess of night.
Note that Nótt is the mother of wealth (Aud), day (Dagr), and Earth (Jord). All wealth is sourced in Earth, and in Nordic mythology Earth is the child of night. So one way we frame this is:
Night is the ultimate source of wealth.
Something to ponder.
Our four-line hail to Her follows the same rhythmic cadence as all the other short hails in our liturgy. With a group, one participant reads the first three lines, and the group recites the fourth line in unison.
Hail to Nótt, Our Lady of Night.
Hail to Nótt, Our Lady of Boundless Darkness.
Hail to Nótt, the Unsorrowing.
Hail to the Holy Powers of Yggdrasil.
The Sanctuary honors Her with a nightly prayer just before the closing bell and bedtime, and we make special offerings to Her on our dark moon incubation retreat days.
Hail, the Unsorrowing (Prayer to Nótt)
Hail, Dark One.
Mother of Wealth.
Mother of Day.
Mother of Earth.
To Our Lady of infinite darkness, we surrender.
To Our Lady of the boundless night sky, we surrender.
To the Weaver of Dreams, we bow.
Dream-Njörun, we welcome Your embrace.
Hail, Sleep's Joy.
Thank You for Your blessings.
You melt away sharp edges of waking life.
You transport us into realms of Holy Darkness.
Hail, Black-Hooded One.
Your cloak shelters, restores, and nourishes.
We honor You as the great equalizer.
Hail, The Unsorrowing.
Grant us comfort, rest, and safe passage
Into Your murky depths.
The Sanctuary also put together a playlist of dark ambient music on Bandcamp for Nótt as an offering, including one track explicitly named after Her.
We recommend listening in a darkened room.
Photo by Martin Adams via Unsplash.
The Wayback Machine the original version of this post, first published Nov. 25, 2022 on Substack.
